Each lifetime contains multitudes. A multicolored collection of insights and experiences. A many-hued menagerie of dusks and dawns. Each lifetime is not just one thing, but many. Like a field that blooms in wildflowers and golden grass from spring to fall. And each one of us is not just one thing, but many, too.

The child whose imagination created shapes from shadows and knew that a summer was also a slice of forever. The teenager who could get lost in poetry and wasn’t afraid to fall head over heels in love. The new parent who experiences the ecstatic largeness of existence in the absolute smallest moments of life. The elder who can take the wide view. The wise one who knows exactly what to say to soothe a wound, and how to laugh at the silliness of living on earth.

Asia at age 3 channeling Superwoman

When we need clarity in our lives we often look to the exterior for guidance. Seeking outside support from your community can be absolutely vital, but we can also be empowered to seek council directly from the complexity of our own being. The deep diversity of our own selves.

As humans, we tend to turn a critical eye upon our past (and present, for that matter). Picking over ourselves with a fine-toothed comb, we lose ourselves in the subtle imperfections, and cease to remember the gifts and talents that we naturally possessed throughout so many moments of our lives. And we forget that those aptitudes, those wisdoms and insights, still remain somewhere deep inside. Within all of us is a real-life confederation of superheros, with specific powers to share.

So next time your heart aches for guidance, consider the possibility that there is a version of you that knows exactly how to heal the wound. A self that can give you a perspective that will transform it all.

Authentic medicine people recognize that true healing comes from within. That all healing originates from the self. Even when we have the support of an incredible therapist or herbalist, the alchemy that releases us from dark places is a magic that originates inside. Plants, too, are simply allies that bolster our natural abilities to heal. Even an immune stimulating herb like Echinacea doesn’t bequeath us with something entirely new. It bolsters and supports what is innate to us. It ignites the potential within. All healing is born from the cauldron of your multitudinous self. We just have to be open to the diversity inside.

There is much pressure in our culture to package our own identities, to be easily encapsulated in 140 characters. But the real truth is that within each of us is a diversity of different personalities. An entire kaleidoscope that can be experienced in the span of a single day. We are both, we are all.

The person who drinks midnight margaritas and goes out dancing until dawn. And the person who wakes up at first light to sip tea and simply listen to the birds.

We, all of us, wild and meditative. Carefee and conscientious. Confused and completely clear.

We are wounded. And we are our own most powerful healers.

There is a part of you that is reaching out right now, with a magic balm to help.

So keep reading to learn how to access this multitudinous self. Develop a deep relationship with the medicine person that you are, and the healer that you have been and will become.

It’s all here. You are here. And so everything is possible, beginning right here.

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// M I C A //

A vastly abundant mineral flecked in field and stream, Mica is a glimmer of light in our journey to see ourselves. A supremely multilayered stone, Mica brings us into a uniquely celebratory relationship with our multifaceted self. Known in Chinese medicine as a sacred mirror, Mica works to reflect back to us our inherent worthiness and inner-brilliance, encouraging us to recognize ourselves for the divine beings that we truly are. Mica acts as a magic gazing glass, through which we can see all the goodness that exists within.

// S E L F H E A L //

A profound ally for healing, Self heal (or prunella) reminds us that everything we need to change, transform, and grow is already within us. Added in essence form to any formula, Self heal is considered a potentiator, a flower that helps all other elements of the formula to harmonize and amplify in healing. A central essence in my own practice, Self heal is vital for both the healer and the healing. This sweetly nurturing essence reminds us that everyone deserves time for self care and rejuvenation. And that, in truth, we do not have to look beyond our own selves to experience the most profound healing. At the deepest level, we are always whole.

We are, in truth, our own spirit guides. Listen to this spoken meditation to open a dialogue with your inner healer and multitudinous self. Re-integrate the gifts of spirit from your inner child, and invite the wisdom of the elder you have yet to become.

Be guided from within.

// Journey to Yourself //

From a shamanic standpoint we aren’t just a self, we have a self. Part of the gift, and responsibility, of this lifetime is to learn how to care for the selves that we are actively creating. Self care can look like many things: baths, baking, taking half an hour to work on a puzzle. Simply put – one of our most central, and unique tasks, is to learn what our selves need in order to feel supported and cared for.

One way we can begin to understand our needs is to journey to a quiet aspect of ourselves and ask. Shamanic journeying is a kind of meditation, combined with focused intention, to enter an expanded state of consciousness. It is a great way to connect in and receive guidance for those of us who have active minds. Next time you are needing support, or are wondering how to engage in more meaningful self care, try a journey with the intention to meet an aspect of yourself that is here to help.